TSoK Productions: Through Other Eyes
by Vile Slanders
Summary: See the world through other eyes. A world a bit different from the one you're familiar with. When a huntress falls due in part to a genetic anomaly, her lifelong Pack leaves her for dead. But all is not lost. Where one Pack abandons her, a different Pack adopts her. But this Pack operates unlike any the huntress has encountered before. What kind of backwards world has taken her in?
1. Chapter I: Of Prey and Predators

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I have been challenged. I will meet that challenge. I will paint a portrait of the TSoK universe from a mon's perspective, or I will completely stop writing "The Saga of Kings" Trilogy.

Naw, I'm kidding.

Even if this fails, Theron and Zane will still burn their way through the violent world that I created.

-So you can't get me to stop that easily. What a bitch for those scalding reviews you were warming up.

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 **The Saga of Kings:**

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" _ **Through Other Eyes"**_

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 _Written by:_

 **Vile M.F. Slanders**

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 **Chapter I: Of Prey and Predators.**

The Alpha hissed, nudging her awake.

Quickly rising to her paws, she sniffed at the air.

She could smell it.

The Enemy.

The sun was far in rising, but the Enemy was moving before the solar rays could warm its blood.

The Pack had the advantage.

They could strike while the Enemy was still cold and weak.

The Alpha was rallying the other members of the Pack, rousing them to the alert.

The Enemy was moving.

The darkness favored the Pack.

It was time to hunt.

It was the perfect time to kill the Enemy.

The Enemy's scent quickened her blood, driving off the drowsing aches. She could feel her heart hammering within her chest. She could feel an itch at the base of her skull. She could feel the tightening of her shoulders, and the autonomous flexing of her claws.

The blood of the Enemy called to her blood; as the violence bade spitting breaths and snarling yowls. The Pack answered her aggression with their own.

The Enemy was moving.

The Enemy was exposed.

The Enemy would die.

The Alpha took his position at the head, and his Beta followed from beside. The remaining members fell in behind the pair, as the Pack moved as one in search of the Enemy.

The scent would lead them. The blood would call them.

And the battle would meet them.

The grass did little to impede the Pack's advance, as she followed in the footsteps of her Beta.

This hunt was different.

It was not for mere meat that the Pack now hunted for.

The five white prowlers did not hunt for simple prey.

The Enemy was not prey.

The Enemy was strong.

The Enemy was as strong as the Pack.

The Enemy hunted the Pack's quarry.

The Enemy hunted the Pack's kits.

The Enemy sought the Pack's blood.

The Enemy needed to die.

There was no fear known to the Alpha or his Beta; nor hesitation known to any other of the Pack.

Except for one.

She was not like them.

They had no fear of the Enemy's bite, or its razored tail.

Though such devices still drew blood and ended life; the Enemy's greatest weapon did not harm the Pack.

Except for one.

She was different.

She was afraid.

The Enemy's greatest weapon could kill her.

The white prowlers tightened ranks, and a wide river of turbulent water parted the prevalent grass. The path across the river was hidden in the head of the rapids; a shallow rise of stones concealed by a swell of angry water. The Pack knew the way across the river. This was their land. And the Enemy did not belong here.

Pausing to shake the water from her fur, she once again fell in behind the Beta, and readied to seek the Enemy once more. The Pack was moving again. The river's stony banks gave way to long grass again, and the Pack spread out. They were almost upon it.

The Enemy.

The scent was overwhelming now. Perhaps the enemy had caught their scent as well. Though the Enemy lacked a nose, it could still taste their trails upon the wind.

But the Enemy was cold.

The sun had not yet risen.

The Enemy would be weak.

The Enemy may not yet realize how close the Pack was.

The grass was growing thinner. Red rocks now punctured the rolling green knolls.

The Enemy liked the rocks.

The rocks warmed quickly in the sun, and retained their heat long into the night.

The rocks were growing more numerous.

And the Enemy's scent grew stronger.

The Enemy.

Dead ahead.

In the open.

Coiled on a rock.

Purple. Black. Gold.

And red.

The red eyes.

The red fangs.

And the red blade upon its tail.

The Enemy was massive. Six times the huntress's length, and twice as thick as her at its middle.

The Enemy was armless, nor did legs sprout from its scaled body.

The only features of distinction was a wide mouth with red fangs, and a tail tipped in a red blade.

Scales and muscle was all that connected those two extremities.

The Enemy was powerful.

The Enemy was dangerous.

The Pack moved to engage, and at last; the Enemy's coils shifted.

The Enemy learned too late that the Pack was upon it.

The Pack's claws broke scale and parted muscle before the Enemy's head lashed in a blinding reflex; red and gold moving in a lethal blur.

The Pack fell back, and separated, before circling the Enemy; but the Pack's many parts did not dissuade the Enemy. It fell back into its coils, head raised and tail lifted; lidless eyes unwavering and forked tongue slithering.

Despite the lack of sun, the Enemy was still strong.

The battle had begun.

The Pack moved in sequence, individuals drawing fang and blades away from the rest of the Pack with feints and bluffs.

One at a time, the Pack members struck, exploiting every opening that the Enemy revealed in its attack.

Little could the Pack's claws and teeth wound the Enemy, but every drop of blood spilled weakened it. Every gash and puncture taxed the Enemy's resolve.

But the Enemy knew this tactic.

This Enemy had eaten Packs before.

With a feint of its own, the Enemy deceived the Pack.

One Pack member moved to exploit, and when the Enemy reversed its lunge, red fangs sank into white fur.

She watched as her Pack member was drawn into the coils. She watched as that tail fell upon her sibling. She watched as the Enemy crushed bone in its deadly embrace, while a red blade hewed sinew and arteries; staining the white fur red.

The coils loosened, and a broken twitching figure rolled from the rock.

The Pack had been five.

Now they were four.

The Enemy made no sound of triumph, nor wasted any motion to intimidate. Returning once more to striking coil, the enemy awaited the Pack's next slip. But the Pack had grown wary.

The Omega was dead.

Not one of the Pack cared for the fallen; save for one.

She was the weakest now.

She would be the next Omega.

But such concerns were summarily dismissed.

The Enemy.

The Enemy was still alive.

The Enemy needed to die.

Now the Pack switched tactics.

Two Pack members circled clockwise, while two the others circled counterclockwise.

The Pack members adjusted speeds, and soon generated a mirage.

The Enemy's eyes were unmoving, but even these lidless eyes could lose their focus.

Each Pack member shifted the Enemy's gaze, each time the Pack's opposing circles crossed figures.

White shapes merged and broke apart in the Enemy's eyes; white shapes fusing and diffusing into seperate directions. Four white shapes? Six white shapes? Eight White shapes?

The Enemy grew agitated, and lunged for the nearest individual. But the Enemy could not curve its neck in the attack. Every muscle flexed in but one direction to achieve such a powerful strike.

And the Pack's circle curved ahead of the Enemy's fangs.

The Enemy faltered when its maw found neither flesh nor fur, and the Pack attacked as one.

Two converging individuals took the head, and the other two attacked the tail.

The Pack's teeth and claws worked in tangent, before the Enemy shook itself free from the onslaught.

But a new weakness had been accrued from the Pack's vicious maneuver; as the Enemy's blade folded in on the tail's rent muscle.

The Pack had disarmed half of the Enemy's arsenal; and they grew bold when the Enemy's blood welled from that tattered tissue.

The Enemy was in retreat, but the cold and blood loss had crippled it; and the Pack now struck in uncoordinated harries. The promise of victory had blinded the Pack to the danger.

A shriek and a hiss followed the Enemy's retaliating lunge, and the Alpha fell back with a bleeding gouge in his shoulder. The Enemy's weapon was in his body, but his blood could resist the sickness wrought from such wounds.

The Alpha would live, though now the Pack once again learned caution.

Even in dying, the Enemy could still kill.

Spreading their numbers wide, the Pack sought to distract the retreating Enemy once more.

But the Enemy was desperate.

The Enemy would only defend; now that its deadly tools had been dulled.

But the Alpha was infuriated with the pain. He struck now alone, slipping beneath the Enemy's lunge, and sinking both teeth and claws into belly scale.

The Enemy repositioned its head and closed its coils around the Alpha, but the rest of the Pack found an opening in the Enemy's focused intent.

Three mouths closed on the same throat; six claws tore into the same neck.

And with the addition of the Alpha's own fangs and nails; the battle met its end.

Blood oozed from open arteries, and guttural breaths fluttered the ragged tissues that split the windpipe; But the Pack's fury would not diminish while life teased them from Enemy's form. Every individual continued to gnaw and slash, until only bone connected the Enemy's head to its neck.

The struggle was over.

The Enemy was dead.

With growls spitting yowls; the Alpha secured his prize.

First meal went the Pack's leader, while the others were made to wait.

Stripping his meal from the ruined throat, the wounded Alpha gorged himself on the Enemy's remains.

When the Alpha withdrew from the corpse, the Beta moved in to fill her kit-swollen belly.

The Pack would replace what members had been lost; and the Enemy's flesh would feed their revival.

When the Beta settled down amongst the blood and the gore; did _she_ dare move to claim the third rank.

But her sibling also moved to take of his rightful meal; and when the two met over the meat of their Enemy, it was in a yowling feud.

Neither the Beta or the Alpha intervened, as the rank of Omega was settled.

The fight only lasted moments, before a bleeding female submitted to her stronger brother.

Rolling onto her back with a whimper, she pleaded for mercy from her sibling.

But while her brother was content to yowl and spit from above her; the Alpha moved in to punish her.

Teeth sank into her neck, and her father drove her nose into the dirt. Dragging his daughter up against a rock, the Alpha's talons carved new wounds across her back.

So had it been decided.

 _She was to serve as the new Omega._

Her brother took his meal, guzzling the last of the ribless flesh; leaving her to pick around the scale and bone for the tough morsels. She clambered over to the fallen enemy, eyes averted and shoulders slumped, heart still beating with the fury of her lost battle.

And so did the Omega consume her meal, grateful for the scraps and waste; for if nothing was left after her brother's feast…

...Then nothing would be the Omega's meal.

But…

 _Something_ rose in silence from the grass beyond the Enemy's stones. _Something_ massive and stealthy slowly cast its shadow over the Pack.

 _Something_ even mightier than the Enemy in the sun.

She had barely sample the Omega's first bite when the shadow fell across her.

The Pack began to slink away and hiss.

Leaving the Omega alone with the prize.

She looked up from the flesh of the Enemy and beheld this new foe's form.

Purple in two shades. Armor fashioned in beads and blades. Two long arms tipped in pincers. Four short legs shuffling beneath the plated body.

Eight black glassy eyes swelling from between those two thick arms, and below those eight eyes, flexed two heavy mandibles unfurling into long blue fangs.

The King of these plains.

The Omega fell away from that shadow, abandoning her unsampled meal.

The black eyes followed her, and the beaded arms slowly rose.

The King desired a meal; and the dead Enemy could no longer resist such a hunger.

But the dead Enemy was only a nibble to a King of this size.

And in those black and glassy eyes, the Pack was just another nibble for this unrivaled tyrant.

The King struck with a speed that outmatched the Omega's juke, and a mighty pincer severed her flesh in a glancing blow.

Little sooner than the Omega had put down a measured distance between her and the withdrawing pincer, than it was that she felt something rising from the King's burning wound.

 _The sickness._

She was not like the others of her Pack.

She had not their immunity to the sickness.

She could feel the venom breaking down her veins. Her stomach turned, while water and phlegm stopped her breath in a gagging reflex. The sickness was inside her.

Her heart grew cold and a twitch developed in her neck. The sickness did not outright kill the prey. It weakened the prey quickly. Her own blood was turning into poison within her body. Her own nerves were seizing against her brain's command.

Her whole existence became a blinding pain.

...And something rose within her to answer the sickness.

She was not like the others of her Pack.

She was susceptible to the sickness.

And though the sickness could kill her…

...It could also make her stronger.

Vomit left her mouth in a rasping wheeze, even as adrenaline poured into her system to counter the effects of the sickness. The seizing nerves began to swell, increasing their neurological conductivity through their enhanced saline volume. Her heart thudded heavy with life, driving the toxic blood throughout every capillary, while her blood cells withered away from their amassed hemoglobin, exposing twice as much oxygen-ferrying surface area than normal. The venom digested the walls of her alveoli, further thinning the tissue for an even more efficient atmospheric exchange.

And a sudden flood of dopamine mixed with the potent cocktail of blood, venom, and adrenaline; turning her vision black and filling her ears with a ring as the Omega was consumed by an unnatural rage.

The sickness was upon her.

She was not like the rest of her Pack.

 _She was different._

…

The pain woke her. She was on her side in the mud. New wounds bled into the falling rain, and a throbbing sensation in her head reddened her vision and numbed her hearing.

The sickness was still in her.

But the King was dead.

A colossal purple ruin oozed foul white blood into the mud around her, and what little her senses could relay told the Omega that the tyrant was no longer whole.

He lay in three pieces, strewn across the dead Enemy's hold.

She tried to rise, but quickly fell.

The sickness was still in her.

The sickness was slowly killing her.

Now she saw them returning from their flight.

Cautious. Nervous. Wide eyed and leery.

The Pack.

She could not lift herself from the mud. What strength she had known in the intoxicated fury was long cold.

The Omega was crawling into death.

And the Pack could neither aid her, nor would they try.

The wounded Alpha briefly sniffed around her fluttering neck, before falling away with a hiss.

Omega for less than a day.

Such frailty.

The Pack wasted little time. In a repeat of family violence, the bleeding Alpha and his pregnant Beta named their last standing child Omega, before the three left the previous Omega in that field of corpses.

Abandoned.

Packless.

Sick.

Dying.

Would some other predator end her agony before the sun rose?

Or would she be made to suffer the sickness until death?

With a defiant gasp, she lifted a paw.

Burying her claws into the softened soil, she dragged her white form through the mud.

She was still alive.

And until death claimed her…

...She would commit herself to life.

…

She woke to a noise. She had crawled into this cave just as the first wings rose to sing the morning sun into the cloud covered sky. She could hear the patter of rain on stone and the distant rumble of thunder beyond her meager shelter's enterance.

Was it the storm that had waken her from her sleep?

There it was again…

-The noise.

It sounded muffled by the rock, but distinct in its peculiar rising and falling of pitch.

Was this the sickness playing with her mind?

Or was it real?

"-ammer?"

"-ell, the rain-"

"-omething down there-?"

 _What was that noise?_

"-Right. You stand watch. Hunker down so that I can get my headlamp and pick."

It sounded…

...Musical?

The rocks at the entrance of her cave began to shift.

"-There better be something more than an iron deposit down there, Hammer. You've had enough to eat this morning. You don't need anymore ore, fatso."

A stark white light invaded the tunnel, and the sick Omega quickly dragged herself into the shadows.

"Hold my legs. It's not that deep. I don't see any Skorupi or Sevipers in there, but it looks like it gets wider further back. I'm not seeing any gems either. I'm telling you, Hammer… If I'm going through all this trouble for another one your snack breaks…"

 _-Something was coming into her cave._

The white light began to move, and something was scraping along the floor of the cave.

"-Umph. These Goddamn squeezes are going to ruin my back. Can you still hear me, Hammer?"

 _RUMBLE._

"Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure that you could hear me bitching you out when I find a lump of-"

The light rounded a bend in the tunnel, and a vague silhouette filled the sick Omega's vision before the white light blinded her.

"-Oh fuck!"

Whatever was in the tunnel with her, it started panicking as soon as it caught sight of her.

"-HAMMER, GET ME-!?"

Her eyes adjusted to the blinding light, and a strange animal met her gaze.

It had a mane of wavy brown hair. A coarse layer of that same colored hair coated its lower jaw. But the space between the chin and mane was almost bare of hairs, save for two curved strips above the eyes. The unnatural white light shone from a bulky protrusion on its forehead, but the most startling apparatus was the animation of its face.

Red lips surrounded a bizarre mouth, and a nose stood far beyond the typical confines of a snout. A pair of blue eyes danced with brilliant motions, and the strangest fleshy patterns filled the inside of either ear.

 _What was this animal?_

 _It didn't look like a predator-_

"Holy shit. Hammer... we've got ourselves a wounded Zangoose in here."


	2. Chapter II: Rebirth and Confusion

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 **The Saga of Kings:**

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" _ **Through Other Eyes"**_

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 _Written by:_

 **Vile M.F. Slanders**

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 **Chapter II: Rebirth and Confusion**

"I don't know what we're gonna do-"

"-It's jammed in there tight, bleeding all over the place-"

"-Really bad shape. It didn't even spit at me when I rounded the blind spot. When does a Zangoose-?"

"-Now I'm regretting not carrying around a Pokeball…"

"...I don't even know why we're trying to save it!"

The strange animal with a light on its head had retreated from the cave. But it still stood at the entrance, making an absolute cacophony with its incessant noise.

"Don't you huff at me, Hammer. I haven't thrown a Pokeball since high school, and we've never had a reason worth carrying one before-"

"-Are you sure it's provenance that you're smelling in that hole?"

 _Rumble._

"Well shit. Our options are limited. We could get the Zangoose out of there pretty easily if we just killed it first, but I don't know, man…"

"-It looks really fucked up. I mean, just flat out miserable. I don't want to kill it unless we absolutely have to..."

 _Rumble?_

"-But I really don't want to get hacked into bits underneath a rock…"

"...Shit…"

There was something else outside of the cave with strange animal. She could hear the sound of its movements rising in time with minor vibrations in the rock.

-Whatever was outside of the cave with the strange animal, it was _very big._

"Right. Just toss me the rope. I got an idea."

"Well, I may not have a record setting pitcher's arm…"

"-But I ain't no slouch when it comes down to a rodeo."

"Okay, Hammer. I'm going back in. You keep a firm hold on that rope. Start tugging my ass out the instant I scream bloody murder."

 _Rumble?_

"Yeah, I know it's crazy… But we're gonna do this the old fashioned way. Right, the lasso is all ready to go. Let me tighten the loop. I don't have much space to toss it, but I'm pretty confident that I can still wrangle the sumbitch out of its cranny."

 _Rumble._

"Back up, big guy. Fuck... This has to be the single stupidest thing that I have ever done…"

 _-Rumble?_

"...Okay… Second stupidest thing I've ever done. Thanks for bringing that up, Hammer. You lugnut of a mon…"

The strange animal was entering the cave again. She tensed as the light rounded the corner of her hideaway.

Was it trying to kill her?

"Hey! You! Zangoose!"

The noisy animal threw a rock at her.

Was that feeble throw supposed to be a warning?

"Get the fuck out my cave! You're bleeding on my paydirt!"

Another rock was thrown.

This strange animal was going from unnerving to annoying.

She hissed at the animal, and spread her claws wide.

She may have been sick…

...But she could still kill.

"Okay, okay… Just chill out. Just relax. I'm not trying to hurt you…"

The strange animal lifted its arms in a display of submission, and squeezed itself further back towards the entrance.

 _RUMBLE?_

"I'm okay, Hammer. I'm okay. I'm just getting cold feet, that's all…"

"-Shit."

"...I'm having one of those, 'What the hell am I doing,' moments…"

The strange animal sounded nervous, but something else was rising in its arms.

Narrow. Long. Braided.

Was that a juvenile Enemy?

Or a very thick vine?

"Come on, fleabag… Stick that neck out a little further…"

Another rock was thrown.

She yowled at the persistent animal, eying the whirling vine warily.

"...Oh boy. Come on now, don't kill me. I'm trying to save your ass, you stupid mon…"

The vine was making a odd moan as its revolutions pick up speed.

"Come on, Zangoose... just give me a little more neck…"

The animal muttered, throwing yet another rock.

That was it.

Her patience was completely expired.

"HAMMER-!"

She lunged at the strange animal, just as it cried out in terror.

But before her teeth and claws could even rend flesh, the animal was pulled away from her in a sudden retreat.

Instinct triggered.

The prey was escaping.

She chased after the fleeing quarry, vacating the cave in her enraged pursuit.

The prey fell upon its back when the cave entrance gave way to a drop-

-And no sooner had she landed upon the strange animal; her fangs diving for its throat…

...Then it was that the _Silver Mountain_ fell upon her.

 _It was huge._

 _It was strong._

Shining even in the faint sunlight filtering through the overcast skies.

Encased in a heavily armored metal carapace. Armed with a pair of long shearing horns jutting forward from the rear of its teardrop shaped helm.

Equipped with claws the size of her canines, and a thick tail plated in black bindings.

She attacked it when the Silver Mountain's arms wrapped around her, but her claws glanced of its hardened shell without even leaving a scratch.

"-Don't kill it, Hammer!"

A massive bare jaw of a mouth screeched open on its hinges, and a beak like vice clamped around her neck. Those exposed jaws were razor sharp and sickly cold to the touch.

She was dead.

 _This predator was well beyond her._

"Hold it steady! I'm gonna hog tie the bitch!"

The strange animal was on its feet, rushing to the Silver Mountain's side with the braided vine held aloft.

"Goddamn, this Zangoose has been through the mill! What the hell? This gash looks necrotic!"

The strange animal stopped wrapping the vine around her extremities to sniff at the King's fetid wound.

"That can't be… That's a fucking hemotoxin infection… A Zangoose can't get poisoned…"

The strange animal tightened the binding vine.

What were these two monster doing to her?

The Silver Mountain was loosening its grip, but the vines prevented any use of her paws.

With a snarl, she attacked the vine with her teeth, but the strange animal jammed another vine across her mouth, and wrapped it tightly around her skull.

"Okay, that should muzzle her. At least I think it's a she. It ain't pissing itself out of a prick, so I'm pretty sure that it's a she." The strange animal backpedaled as she relieved herself of her fluid excrement, a natural reaction to the stress.

"Holy shit, that smells _foul_. Hammer, you're taking a bath after we get her patched up."

Her urine was trickling down both her tail and the Silver Mountain's chest, but the armored giant wasn't even affected by the musky solvent.

"Put her down, let me get the kit out…" The strange animal made a loud, long, sound in a single exhaled breath; before pilfering through a collection of swollen leaves strewn about the cave entrance.

"I've got to take a blood test first. If she really is fighting off a case of envenomation… We're dealing with something crazy weird here…"

A strange clear square was drawn from the swollen leaves, after a bizarre zipping sound had open one of the leaves like a pouch.

A pair of _clicks_ preceded the separation of the clear square's top, and a series of objects were scattered about the inside of the lower section as the noisy animal perused the collection.

"Alright, keep calm fleabag. This is gonna sting like a bitch."

A clear fang with a spiderthread's width of a shining tip sank into her neck. She yowled past the vine in her mouth and lunged to bite the arm that held the clear fang.

And though she could get her teeth around the strange animal's fang wielding arm…

-The vine prevented her from closing her mouth on the strange animal's limb.

"Relax, spitfire. I know that it hurts, but it's for your own good."

The animal was gazing intently at the clear fang when it spoke, drawing a narrow root out of the telescopic end of the clear fang.

The strangest sensation overcame her, as her veins tightened around the fang, and her blood filled the clear portion in a suspended rise.

"Relax. Just keep it cool."

The strange animal's musical noise was soft and gentle, like the whisper of slow winds upon the tall grass.

That voice was almost soothing.

The sound of it was almost enthralling.

"Okay, I'm gonna start a diagnostics on the sample. Help me clean these wounds while we wait for the analysis." The musical animal grunted, waving the Silver Mountain down to his side.

"Alright, spitfire. You thought that the syringe felt terrible? Wait until you try the disinfectants out."

More strangely colored stones were being removed from the clear square's base.

A brown cylindrical stone made a snapping sound as its tapered white top loosened from the larger whole.

"Hold her tight, Hammer. She's gonna start freaking out the instant the disinfectant does its thing." The Silver Mountain positioned itself around her, yet despite its restrictive presence…

...The Silver Mountain did not squeeze her painfully within its arms.

"Cheers, fleabag."

A clear fluid poured from the brown stone, and filled the wounds that marred her body.

For very first second, the fluid felt refreshingly cold.

But the second after that…

The fluid burned her wounds in an excruciating tempest, hissing from the blood-crusted gashes with in an angry froth.

She was drooling in staggered breaths when she could finally stop screaming.

 _What were these monsters doing to her?_

"That made me want to puke. Goddamn, I'm sorry fleabag. But this is the only thing that's gonna save you."

That soothing voice terrified her.

That calloused hand upon her brow horrified her.

"Let's finish dressing these wounds. They're bleeding again now that the disinfectant dissolved the clots-"

A series of beeps interrupted the musical voice, and the strange animal dashed off to a small blue box with white label and a red flashing light.

"Holy fuck. She is poisoned. How the hell did a Zangoose get poisoned?" The strange animal breathed out in a frail wind.

"Crap. Drapion venom. That's some potent stuff. Shit…" The strange animal chewed its lower lip and furrowed its brow.

"-Fuck it. We've gone through all this trouble. We might as well finish the job." The strange animal set aside the blue box, and rooted through the clear square again.

"Okay, spitfire… it's your lucky day. Do you have any idea how expensive antivenom is? I must be the stupidest Prospector alive for burning up all my medicine on a fucking feral mon…" The strange animal returned with a armful of narrow clear vines, flimsy white square leaves, another set of the clear fangs, and a collection of tiny brown stones topped with orange caps.

She began to panic as soon as those hollow fangs entered her bloodstream again.

"Calm down… Come on now. This is minor. You'll be thanking me when the fire cools in your veins."

The voice was soft again, meaning that there was more pain incoming; and the hand was digging into her fur, invasive yet strangely comforting against her skin.

"Okay. Let's gauze her up, and then get the hell out of the rain. For fuck's sake, spitfire… I should train you after all the shit you've put me through." The strange animal began to unravel what looked like spider webs from a roll, while placing cotton mats into her wounds. Tightening the webs around the cotton mats, the strange animal covered every bleeding wound in an uncomfortable shroud.

"Hammer, you're carrying her. Let's get back to camp. Oh wait! Let me mark this hole on the map. We'll come back later to dig out whatever is in there." The Silver Mountain's thick arms changed position around her, and suddenly she was in the air again. Futile though the effort may have been, she still struggled for her freedom from those black arms.

The strange animal looked so tiny from up high in these metal arms. The strange animal swatted at the Silver Mountain when the mighty beast lowered itself to the swollen leaves around the cave.

"No, leave them alone, Hammer. I'll take care of the bags. Just get going. I'll catch up with your slow ass before you know it."

"Keep a firm hold on her, Hammer. And don't mess her up. We just went through hell to patch those wounds, and I don't want to waste any more supplies on the fleabag until we know what we're going to do with her." The strange animal was lifting the the swollen leaves from the mud, and throwing the leaves' long stems around his shoulders.

"...Where's my hat? Oh God help me, Hammer… If you stepped on another ten-gallon hat of mine… Nevermind. I found it." The strange animal lifted a bizarre mushroom from the mud, and beat the clinging filth from the brim.

-And then the strange animal placed that bizarre mushroom on the top of his head.

 _-What was this thing?_

"...My duster is getting all soaked… fucking mud everywhere… I'm starting to think that we should just eat the stupid Zangoose for dinner. Fuck the spent meds. I'm hating the fleabag already. What about you, Hammer?"

 _RUMBLE._ The Silver Mountain reverberated all around her with that guttural noise.

"What? You like getting pissed on, big guy?"

 _Mmph_. The Silver Mountain raised its shoulders, before slumping them.

"Kinky." The strange animal was making a high pitched choking sound, teeth exposed and eyes clenched as his entire frame shook with this new noise.

"Alright. Maybe we won't eat her. At least not tonight." The strange animal slapped the Silver Mountain's elbow, and then took the lead as the pair set off with their terrified captive in arm.

Where were they taking her?

What did they want?

Why had they attacked her?

Why didn't they just kill her?

"I guess it's a good thing that the rain is washing her smell off of you. That musky shit would have probably dragged every horny Zangoose into camp. Speaking of which, you did remember to put the rain tarp up, right?"

 _...Rumble-?_

"...Goddamnit, Hammer…"

…

"Okay, fleabag. Home sweet home." The strange animal began to strip the swollen leaves from its shoulders, and rushed to assist the Silver Mountain with the relocation of the wounded Omega.

They had stopped moving. They had been climbing uphill for half a day.

She was ill, but it wasn't the sickness that filled her with cold.

The sickness had mysteriously faded hours ago.

It was worry that plagued her constitution. She didn't understand anything that had happened, or anything that was transpiring. What were these predators? What madness had allowed such contradictions? These Predators functioned unlike any Pack that she had ever come across.

The strange little animal with the mushroom on its head was obviously the Alpha.

And the massive and powerful Silver Mountain did not challenge his feeble Alpha for leadership.

How did this weak creature maintain dominance over such a powerful Packmate?

"Alright, Hammer. I don't want her in the tent, but we've gotta get her out of the rain. She'll catch a cold if we leave her out here, and I didn't purchase any feline cough drops in Fallarbor. Tell me now. Am I not the dumbest son of a bitch to ever call the Frontier home?" The Alpha made an incessant noise with its melodious voice. She couldn't fathom how so many different keys and pitches could be emanated from same mouth.

 _Mmph._ Though the Silver Mountain failed to match the Alpha's acoustic diversity, it still seemed that the two dissimilar organisms could communicate.

"And that vote of confidence almost makes up for the lack of a rain tarp. I didn't want to be swimming into my sleeping bag, Hammer. I _really_ didn't want to be swimming into my sleeping bag."

Another bizarre and massive leaf was being opened with zipping sound, and a cave within the leaf was revealed.

"Thank God. I rolled my bag up and put it on top of the mess kit. You lucked out, Hammer. I was gonna let you sleep in the rain." The Alpha turned to the silver Mountain, flaring his yellowed teeth.

 _Rumble?_

"Naw, I'm just fucking with you, lugnut. I wouldn't do that to you. Now put the fucking tarp up. I'm gonna get a fire going under the Desk. You keep an eye on the fleabag while I go warm up some dinner for us." The Alpha headed off towards a massive overhanging white leaf, leaving the Silver Mountain and the Omega alone next to the strange cave. Whatever material the cave, overhanging leaf, and swollen leaves were made of; its smell didn't register as something natural in the Omega's olfactories.

Everything about this Pack just seemed unnatural.

The Silver Mountain ignored her as it dragged a big blue crispy leaf over the top of the strange cave, before it grabbed the Omega and carried her bound figure beneath the white overhanging leaf.

She could smell fire beneath this leaf. Fire, smoke, and something-

- _What smelled so good?_

"More kippers and beans? We should probably have some rice tonight, instead of the biscuits. I don't feel like whipping up some pucks after all the crap we went through today."

The Alpha was kneeling next to the fire, scrapping an odd collection of metal objects and sticks together. These concave metal objects were sizzling with the most peculiar materials, and rising from these strange materials…

...That smell was making her salivate.

"Bring the fleabag over here. I'll bet you she's completely burned out after struggling for the better half of the trip." The Alpha waved the Silver Mountain over, and his Alpha's will was meted to a timely completion.

She now lay on her back next to the Alpha.

"You look scared shitless, fleabag." The Alpha showed his teeth to her, but she was not impressed by his meager hardware. Those teeth were small and delicate.

Those were the teeth of a lesser predator.

The Alpha's hand fell upon her, and she began to yowl when his digits buried into her fur.

"Get over it, bitch. I'll find a soft spot sooner or later." The Alpha's fingers probed up to neck, massaging sore muscles and soothing itching skin in their search. When the Alpha's digits found the soft folds of skin surrounding the base of her ears, the yowling came to an abrupt stop.

"Bingo."

The Alpha was revealing his teeth again, and her head was rocking beneath the strokes of his fingers.

She couldn't help it.

 _It just felt so good…_

"Look at that, Hammer. She's halfway domesticated already."

 _Mmph._

The Alpha's hands grew more aggressive, and clinging peels of skin broke away from her ears, even as loose hairs fell from their swelling follicles.

 _The Alpha was grooming her?_

 _Did this mean-?_

"What's that look for, fleabag? Do I remind you of something?"

Was she a part of their Pack?

Was that what they had done to her?

Had they made her into a member of their Pack?

"Well if you like the hand action, then you're gonna love my cooking." The Alpha placed another vine around her neck, and then undid the vines binding her paws.

No sooner had the pressure eased on her wrists and ankles, then the Omega found her feet.

-And she ran away in terror, trying to flee this crazy Pack.

The vine around her neck tightened, and her escape was cut short by the unyielding noose. She landed hard on her back when the sudden stop cranked her neck. The vine. She had to break free of the vine.

Claws rose to the vine on her neck, and she tried to find a purchase with which to tear the choking vine loose.

"No Hammer! Let me!"

The Alpha was upon her. Those hands took a hold of her wrists, and pried her claws away from the vine. Knees pressed into her hips, spreading her kicking legs apart.

The Alpha knew how to disarm her, and despite the width of its hairless arms, the Alpha was much stronger than her.

"Cool it, fleabag." The Alpha grunted, repositioning its knees in time with one of her kicks. If she could get a foot beneath his stomach, then she could disembowel him with the claws on her toes.

"Nuh-uh. I've wrangled Zangoose before, spitfire. You ain't nothing new to me." The Alpha fixed his eyes on hers, and she hissed in his face.

The Alpha's forehead slammed into her nose.

"Whimper, bitch." The Alpha growled over her hacking breath. She spat blood into his face with the next hiss.

"Wrong."

The Alpha's forehead connected with her nose, striking far harder than the first blow. Her head slammed into the rock beneath her, and the Omega yowled for release.

"Submit or hurt!" The Alpha roared, bringing his forehead down upon her nose again. The vine in her mouth prevented her from biting him, otherwise this battle would have decided already. But the rising daze and agony were breaking her. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.

"It ends when you whimper."

A hand twisted her wrist, and a jarring pain caused her to choke, even as the Alpha brought his head down upon her nose again.

She was going to die in agony.

She could do nothing to save herself.

She was helpless.

She began to whimper.

Mercy.

The Alpha loosened the hand twisting her wrist, and the Omega looked up at her Alpha with fear.

He was Alpha.

She would not struggle if he stopped hurting her.

She would submit to her Alpha.

"Just so we're clear on something…"

Her wrist was twisted again, and the Omega nearly vomited from the pain.

"-I'M THE BOSS!" The Alpha bellowed in her face. The twisting stopped, and the Alpha released her. She didn't dare try to kick him. She didn't dare try to move.

She was still on her back when he stood above her, the Omega's belly was exposed and her limbs feebly splayed. She was the Omega. She belonged to her Alpha.

"Get up." The Alpha's hands took her shoulders, and he rolled the Omega to her feet. She lowered her head away from his eyes, not wishing to anger him any more than she had.

"Good. Don't even think for a second that you can take me. Cause if I don't beat shit out of you, then _Hammer_ will."

The Silver Mountain rumbled, and charged for the Omega. She fell onto her back with a whimper, waiting for the Silver Mountain to punish her as the Alpha had.

-But the Silver Mountain paused over her.

"You've gotta leave a mark, Hammer. A little memory of helplessness to reinforce her position. That's how the Pack mentality works. She's the lowest rank in our little posse, and it's both your and my job to remind her of that until she's completely domesticated."

 _Mmph…_

"You're getting soft in your old age, Hammer. Just draw some blood. Trust me, it's what she's expecting. You're only going to confuse her if you don't prove that you're superior."

There was a pause.

Then the Silver Mountain fell onto the Omega with the loudest roar that she had ever heard; that massive steel beak screaming mere inches from her bloodied face.

The Omega's bowels had already loosened well before the Silver Mountain had even cut her with his beak.

"Come on, Hammer… I'm supposed to be the Alpha! Not you! You just traumatized the shit out of her! Literally!" The Alpha pulled off his mushroom, and began to beat the Silver Mountain with it. The Silver Mountain fell away from the paralyzed Omega, withering from the Alpha's mighty blows.

"Okay, let me take over. Get up, fleabag. That's enough abuse for now."

The Alpha pulled her back up onto her feet, before grabbing the vine that tied her to the Alpha's den.

"Hurry up, otherwise the kippers are gonna burn." The Alpha tugged upon his vine, and the Omega hurried to follow in his shadow.

"Good girl. Alright, Hammer. I'm gonna break this down for you now, so that you understand how this is going to work. I eat first. Then you. Then fleabag. It's nothing personal, old boy. It's just how the Pack hierarchy works. And it's all temporary anyways. We have to communicate on her level, until she's broken in. It'll make the domestication process that much easier on her, and we won't have to work as hard on making her tame." The Alpha pulled the shell shocked Omega against his leg, and began to groom her again.

She knew what to do.

She began to groom the Alpha's feet, desperate to prove that she understood.

"Good girl. Make those boots shine." The Alpha grunted, putting his mushroom back on his head.

The Silver Mountain settled down behind the Alpha, a curious look playing in his blue eyes.

"Fuck… To think that I'm actually training mon again..." The Alpha grumbled, neglecting to groom the Omega in favor of eating his meal.

 _-Rumble._

"Fuck you, Hammer. I was a shit Trainer and you know it. I mean look at you. You're a shining example of how terrible a Trainer I was."

 _Mmph._

"Like I said. A shitty Trainer."

"...I remember when you were a cute little Aron, just shucking off your eggshell. You were so tiny back then, that I could actually pick you up... _If I wanted to throw out my back…_ "

 _Rumble…_

The Alpha finished his meal, before allowing the Silver Mountain to start his.

"...Where did I go wrong, Hammer?"

The Silver Mountain paused on his meal, and met the Alpha's eyes.

 _Hurr…_

"Eh, whatever. It's all in the past now. Our lives ain't the prettiest, but it sure as hell beats city living. I wouldn't trade in what we've got for the world. We have some good times, don't we Hammer?"

 _RUMBLE_.

"Yeah, we do. And now the fleabag is gonna be a part of them." The Alpha once again began to groom the Omega, while the Silver Mountain finished his meal.

"Alright, spitfire. Your turn."

Food was offered to the Omega, and though the day's trials had weakened her stomach…

...She couldn't resist gorging herself on this delicious feast.

"I think I know what we're gonna call her. Spitfire. What do you think, Hammer?"

 _Rumble._

"You sure? I was also thinking Pisstail. It suits her just as well as-"

 _-RUMBLE._

"Okay, big guy. I get it. We'll call your girlfriend Spitfire. But I might just shorten it to _Spit_. Just because."

 _Mmph…_

"Okay… Now the hard part. Teaching them their fucking names. And I've already gone and fucked it up. I should have called her name before I gave her the food…"

The Omega finished with her meal. Omegas rarely knew a full stomach, but with a Pack this strong…

...Even an Omega could eat like an Alpha.

Curling up next to her Alpha, the Omega finally felt a sense of calm.

A Pack had taken her in.

A Pack even more powerful than her old family.

A new Pack.

Her Pack.

"You know something, Hammer? I think that I'm already beginning to like Spitfire." The Alpha's musical voice softened when his hands loosened the stiff muscles across the Omega's back.

 _Mmph_.

"Well, duh. I already knew that you liked her, fatso. You've been giving her the puppy dog eyes all damn day. Bringing back fond memories, you galoot?"

 _...Rumble-?_

"Yeah… Me too." The Alpha whispered, as his hands moved to rub the ears of the Omega.

The Omega decided that she rather enjoyed having her ears rubbed.


End file.
